


A Wing and A Poem

by Denois



Series: Soulmate Transformations [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Animal Transformation, M/M, Soulmate AU, birb!Nursey, bird!Nursey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: Nursey had been imagining kissing Dex for two years and after the party to celebrate the Falcs Stanley Cup victory, he sees his chance and he takes it. What he doesn't expect is for Dex to be his soulmate. Now he's a dove for a month, or until Dex can figure out the meaning of all this and what Nursey really needs, whichever comes first.
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Series: Soulmate Transformations [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571026
Comments: 200
Kudos: 202





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Lukutoukka, Theo, Frizzy, and Draskireis for letting me rambled about this for nearly a year, and helping me figure out some of the points or steering me back on track.
> 
> Surprise! An AU of the Sheep!Dex AU! Answering the all important question that readers and Nursey and Dex each had: "what if Nursey had been the one to change?"
> 
> We're going to try to keep this to a weekly update schedule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read the other fic in this series, here's a quick rundown of how this Soulmate AU works
> 
> 1\. The first time you kiss your soulmate, one of you transforms into some sort of domestic animal  
> 2\. The transformation lasts up to 28 days (usually described as a month in universe) or until the bond is formed, whichever happens first  
> 3\. To form the bond the non transformed person has to figure out WHY the other person transformed into that particular animal, it says something about who they are as a core part of their person, this is usually done with quotes or idioms. THEN the non transformed person has to perform an act of service showing that they understand that core part of their soulmate. THEN the transformed person has to also accept the bond. Then the bond is formed and the transformation ends  
> 4\. It's only domestic animals for ease of access to supplies and for safety purposes. Some animals that humans keep as pets are not actually domesticated and would still not count.  
> 5\. This can make it difficult in some ways because the transformed person's connection might actually be to a wild relative of the domestic animal they transformed into (cat > tiger, dog > wolf, etc).   
> 6\. Most people don't just go kissing people willy nilly! There's a chance that any first kiss could start a transformation, so generally people make sure they're ready and know the other person before kissing them.  
> 7\. The bond can be platonic, a lot of people don't form the bond, forming the bond doesn't guarantee a happy relationship. The soul bond is an extra layer of closeness and understanding but 100% not necessary for a happy life or relationship (romantic, platonic, or otherwise).   
> 8\. Racism, Homophobia, Classism: all still exist to a point, which is to say, there are people in the world who are those, but racism and homophobia are not nearly as prevalent, because I said so.  
> 9\. Somehow, this universe is way better at social services in the US so there is government paid income during the transformation period.  
> 10\. Transformed soulmates have to wear a special harness while transformed to have access to public spaces like a human, to differentiate them from actual animals. If your soulmate transformed into a dog, as long as they were wearing a harness, they could take themselves for a walk to the park or whatever without needing anyone with them.

The celly was over. The presser was over. Everyone was hungover. It was time for the fallout. Dex surveyed the apartment and it reminded him of the aftermath of storms.

Not the mess, though the mess was significant, but the emotional tide. Bitty was cooking and baking nonstop, and Dex thought he must have been through the aftermath of storms before as well.

Then Dex grabbed a trash bag and stopped thinking, losing himself in the repetition of cleaning while his mind processed the emotions of the Falcs winning, Bitty and Jack kissing, everything that had occurred in the past few months really. 

He and Nursey had fallen back into their same friend-like state after the dibs debacle, just like they had after all their more serious arguments. Nursey was still insisting that he would move out by September but Dex knew he couldn’t afford to let that happen. So far, his pride had kept him from asking Bitty if he could frame out a room in the basement, but the summer was still young. He could always ask when they got back to school. When Bitty wasn’t dealing with his own storm.

So, Dex cleaned the apartment, returned Bitty’s dead phone, served up plates of brunch and pie, while everyone else sat and dealt with themselves. A part of him was bitter, that everyone else could expect to just seek comfort and focus on dealing with the internal fallout, to not be expected to be the ones carrying on and getting the work done. An even smaller part of him suspected that some of them just hadn’t considered that someone would actually need to do the physical clean up. But these parts were much smaller and much quieter than they had been and were easy to ignore.

When Dex saw Bitty and Jack disappear into their room, he knew that the last walls were going to be breaking. He was almost done with cleanup, just needed to take the numerous trash bags to the garbage chute, and his skin itched to go sit among his teammates, his friends, and soak in the comfort of being part of a group. But as his eyes scanned over those still in the living room, there was no place for him, so he turned to the balcony and the meager comfort of fresh air and sunlight. 

It was enough, had always been enough. His hands clenched around the railing and he closed his eyes. 

“Trying to get away from us, Poindexter?”

Nursey’s voice behind him was surprising, but Dex just shrugged in response. When Nursey joined him at the railing and bumped shoulders with him, he finally opened his eyes.

“You aren’t getting rid of us that easy.”

“Pretty sure you’re the one with plans on how to get rid of me, Nurse.” Dex’s eyes flicked to Nursey and away. Somehow, he still couldn’t stop himself from wanting to look, from wanting. 

It was a familiar ache, and one he was good at repressing. But combined with the emotions of the past 24 hours, it must have knocked him off balance. Because the next thing he knew, Nursey had turned to him, hand on Dex’s cheek, pulling him closer.

“Thought you knew that was just so you’d want to fight to stay.” The words were murmured soft and low, barely words at all, just before Nursey’s lips brushed his. 

Then the world twisted and Dex flinched back from the buffet of wings around his head. Then they were gone, and only the twisty feeling and dread remained to fill him.

~*~

Nursey had not planned on kissing Dex. He’d thought about it, sure. He’d thought about it kind of a lot. Often as a prelude to thinking about doing other things with Dex. But he had not intended to kiss Dex at this time. Or at any time until he was completely certain that the response would not be him getting punched by Dex. 

But Nursey was, as the kids say, a sap and a romantic. And he was still riding the high of his friend winning the Stanley Cup, and his friends kissing on national live tv, and partying with an entire Stanley Cup winning NHL team. And Dex had spent the day being fucking strong and domestic, cleaning up and bringing out brunch and pie, and it was just a lot for one person to handle when they were already emotionally compromised as a base state of existence.

When Dex slipped out to the balcony, Nursey followed. 

“Trying to get away from us, Poindexter?” Nursey knew that he had slipped into his flirting voice. Like usual.

Dex just shrugged it off. Like usual.

Nursey was undeterred. He joined Dex at the railing and knocked into his shoulder. “You aren’t getting rid of us that easy.”

“Pretty sure you’re the one with plans on how to get rid of me.” 

For the first time, Nursey felt himself stumble. For the first time in months, it occurred to him that the man who had never wanted anything that could be gotten easily, without a fight, might not have recognized the gauntlet that he’d thrown down for what it was.

He didn’t even think before he reached out and turned Dex’s face towards him, leaning in. “Thought you knew that was just so you’d want to fight to stay.” And he finally lived all his fantasies and kissed William Poindexter. 

Then the world twisted and he felt himself falling until instinct kicked in and he flapped to keep himself aloft, but then he was over the railing and everything was still twisty. What he really needed was a place to sit down for a moment, which would probably be found down on the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

There was a space of emptiness. Then his heart thudded heavily once. Then emptiness again. The bird, Nursey, did not land on the balcony rail. He did not land on one of the other balconies. He swooped and dropped and fought his wings until he disappeared into the foliage of the greenspace across the street. Dex’s heart thudded again. 

He was through the apartment and out the door before his heart caught up to the surge of adrenaline and started working overtime. He was running through the lobby before his brain actually started processing his worry into words. He was in the greenspace before he remembered how to breathe and speak. 

“Nurse!” He spun in a circle, eyes scanning high and low. “Fuck fuck fuck. He’s a bird. How’s he going to answer?” 

He didn’t answer himself, just yelled again. “Nurse!”

A nearby bush rustled and he hurried over to pull branches aside until it revealed the small feathered body of some sort of fancy dove or pigeon.

“Nurse?”

The bird bobbed its head up and down and stepped forward. It looked like the bird that had flown off the balcony and it seemed unlikely that a wild bird would nod at Nursey’s name and approach him. 

On the other hand, it would be his luck to lose his soulmate the instant that the transformation occurred and end up taking care of a regular bird for a month. It’s not like that would change the outcome, really. Whoever was in charge of assigning soulmates owed Nursey an apology. Well, he’d get chirped for it. Assuming Nursey survived the month on his own.

That was a concern. Nursey was a danger to himself normally, but at least as a human he could take care of himself. He knew how to manage the world. But a bird had different things to worry about. Feral cats, birds of prey, teens with bb guns. Maybe that last one wasn’t as much of a problem in the city. 

Dex swallowed thickly. “Are you Nurse, or are you some other fancy pigeon with no sense of self preservation?” 

The bird fluttered its wings to lift up off the ground and launched itself towards Dex’s chest. He managed to catch the fluttering bird and cradle him gently until he calmed down and settled.

“Probably Nurse then. What the hell were you thinking?”

~*~

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Nursey nuzzled against Dex’s chest. He wasn’t sure what Dex was asking about, and couldn’t answer if he had been sure. Not just because he couldn’t speak now, but because he hadn’t really thought anything through since before he got up to follow Dex onto the balcony. 

“Why’d you fly off like that? What if there’d been feral cats in that greenspace?” 

He felt and heard the hitch in Dex’s breath at that. Of course. Dex was worried. It was what Dex did. At least he wasn’t mad at him for the kiss. Yet.

He expected Dex to take him someplace safe. Maybe go pick up the soulmate harness and then to Maine. Something like that. He did not expect Dex to carry him back into Jack’s building and to take the elevator back up to Jack’s apartment. Or to be carefully settled into a nest of Dex’s flannel to watch while Dex started carrying garbage bags out of the apartment. 

He thought he was pretty well covered by Dex’s flannel, but it must have shifted because he caught Lardo staring at him with an eyebrow raised. He pulled his head into his shoulders a couple of times to approximate a shrug and turned back to watch Dex again. 

He had a feeling that people would tell him it was a bad sign that he was surprised that Dex had brought him back to the apartment and then placed him, gently, in a nest of his flannel but still in plain sight, so that he could finish taking out the trash. They would say that it didn’t bode well for the completion of the bond that he didn’t know Dex. 

They would be wrong. He _did_ know Dex. He knew that Dex almost never went without his flannel, even when it was really too warm. He knew that Dex took meticulous care of his flannels because they weren’t cheap. He knew that Dex was private and wouldn’t want anyone bugging him about the soulmate transformation.

He also knew that Dex had literally cleaned the entire apartment at this point and could let someone else take out the trash. Except, apparently, Dex wanted to do that, too. And that must have been all he wanted, because as soon as he got back from dumping the last bag, he gathered the few items they’d left laying around and then Nursey in the flannel. 

Lardo met them in the entry area. 

“Can you let them know that Nursey and I headed out? But not…”

“You know the rules, Poindexter.”

He felt Dex let out a breath, imperceptible to the ear.

“Yeah. I know. You get deets even if no one else does. Have I ever broken it?”

Lardo didn’t so much as raise a brow in acknowledgement of the question. “There’s a pet store just down on South Angell, the Plaid & Stripe, that should have supplies. Checked while you were cleaning.”

“Thanks.” 

Dex held out the hand that wasn’t cradling Nursey to offer a fist bump, but Lardo grabbed him and pulled him down until she could whisper in his ear. No matter how much Nursey strained, he couldn’t hear what she said. Rude.

When they were finally free of Jack’s building, Nursey assumed they’d head towards South Angell, wherever that was. Instead, Dex took them back into the greenspace and sat on a bench, carefully arranging the flannel into a nest again. 

“Guess I can’t put off calling your ma anymore.”

~*~

"Hi Dr. Nurse. It's Will, from Derek's team?" Dex took a deep breath and stared straight ahead. There was no way he was going to get through this. Dr. Nurse was going to ask where she could pick up her son. Dr. Nurse wasn’t going to believe him and was going to call the cops because he’d done something to Nursey. 

"Let me guess, he finally kissed you and now he's some kind of animal?" Dr. Nurse was going to guess what happened exactly. She sounded resigned but not surprised. 

Dex faltered slightly, trying to reconcile the actual response to his expectations. "Ayuh. A dove." 

"A dove? A pigeon?” The eyeroll shouldn’t have been audible through the phone, but it was. “Of course. You’re welcome to stay at the brownstone. We’re out of the country, but I can alert the staff and it should be fully stocked.”

“Um, actually I took too much time from work already, so I was planning to head back to Maine after I pick up a harness for him. I can take him down to the city first if you’d rather I do that.”

“Why would you bring him down just to take him back up to Maine? His father and I aren’t there. Where are you planning to pick up the harness?”

Dex furrowed his brow. Apparently she at least trusted him enough to keep Nursey alive for a month. And it made sense that she’d want to make sure he wasn’t going to some cheap big box store to get supplies for him. “I was going to check the Plaid & Stripe on South Angell here in Providence.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let you get to it, then. You have a lot of traveling for today. Let me know if you need anything for taking care of him. We can set up a visit once he changes back."

He didn’t have a chance to say goodbye or agree to the visit before the call disconnected. With his eyes closed, he took another deep breath, slowly in and out, before looking down at Nursey. “That was weird.”


	3. Chapter 3

Nursey was in a nest of Dex’s flannel again, this time tucked carefully in the kiddie seat of a cart at the pet store. He briefly wondered if the flannel nest was going to be a theme for the transformation (not that he was complaining) but mostly he was preoccupied with what Dex had said to Lardo. 

How could Lardo know that he’d never broken the rule about deets unless he’d given her deets? Nursey’d never gotten deets from Dex. He’d assumed there were no deets to get. Apparently, he’d been wrong. And when Dex was on the phone, it had sounded like Dex wanted to take him back to his parents’ house instead of trying to form the bond at all. 

He stared at Dex as Dex stared at two different harnesses and frowned. Nursey couldn’t frown but he wanted to. 

Was he too late on kissing Dex? A soulmate transformation wasn’t a guarantee of forming the bond. It wasn’t a guarantee that Dex felt the same. He knew that, logically. But since when did he pay attention to logic? Never. That’s when. 

So what he needed to do was figure out how to make Dex love him, as a bird. In under a month.

No sweat.

~*~  
Dex stared at the two soulmate harnesses for birds. They were the only two the right size that the store carried, though he could probably order one online. He was pretty sure this was some kind of test. There was no discernible difference between the two harnesses, but one cost $20 more than the other. Was there actually a difference and he was just too stupid to realize it? Was buying the more expensive one a waste of money? Or was it actually more comfortable and better for Nursey? Were they actually both crap and he should just get the cheaper one for now so he could afford to order a better one online?

It didn’t help that Nursey kept staring at him. This was definitely a test. If he got the wrong one, Nursey wouldn’t complete the bond. 

No pressure.

“I guess you could try them on?” 

Nursey stood up a bit in the flannel nest. That seemed like agreement. Maybe Dex was making the right choices. He eased the first harness onto Nursey’s bird body and watched as Nursey fluttered his wings and bobbed up and down a bit. Once Nursey was still again, he took that as his cue for an outfit change and let Nursey try on the second harness. Nursey repeated his tests and then stilled so that Dex could remove the harness. 

“Ok. Which one did you like better?” 

Nursey darted out and tapped one of the harnesses with his beak. Of course, it was the more expensive one. Apparently there was a difference to justify the price. 

Dex put the other harness back on the peg and moved down to the bird food. There were a lot of types of bird food. His heart sank. How much did he even need? Surely he could get more in Maine, though. So probably not the 50 pound bags. 

He pulled out his phone and started searching for what to feed doves and pigeons. His search was not helped by the fact that some people seemed to think doves and pigeons were different species when they are just two common names for the same family of birds. Or by the fact that there was a lot of conflicting information. One page run by a corporate vet company said pellet food supplemented with finely diced fresh fruit and veg. Another page by a pigeon rescue group said seed mix. A third page by a breeder said grit was necessary, but the first two both said it wasn’t. 

He wanted to sit down on the floor and put his head in his hands and just have a minor breakdown for a few minutes. But Nursey was watching him. And Nursey needed to stay on diet plan. 

Too many options, first thing, eliminate extraneous options. He could do that. First, only look at pigeon and dove food options. The sites did all seem to agree that specific formulas for pigeons and doves were best and other options should only be used with supplementation if the specialized formulas weren’t available. Then eliminate the ones in 50 pound bags. Miraculously, that left him with only two options. Again. 

Dex let out a sigh. It wasn’t like he could open them both and have Nursey taste test them to see which he liked better. He could, of course, buy both bags and let Nursey taste test at home, but if he was going to get the more expensive halter, then he should probably limit other expenses. 

Helping Nursey stay on diet plan and making sure he had proper nutrition was the most important thing. He turned the bags over and read the nutritional information. One had a bit more protein, the other a bit more fiber. More importantly, one mentioned it was formulated to help wild birds in winter. He put that one back on the shelf. 

Dex smiled at Nursey. He could do this. He could take care of Nursey. Then his eye caught on another, small, bag. Apparently, they made treats for pigeons too. Before he could think better of it, he tossed one into the cart. It was fine. He didn’t need to eat before he got home anyway.

Having made the difficult decisions, the rest of the trip was a breeze and they were able to check out without any trouble. He paused at the front of the store to put the harness on Nursey so that he’d be in compliance with federal law. Plus, the harness had a cable attached like a leash so Nursey could perch on his shoulder or something and even fly a little if he wanted when they were in safe areas, without getting lost again. 

“It’s detachable, so when we get to my ma’s house, you’ll be able to fly around without it. Inside.”

Nursey stared at him. He was pretty sure that Nursey didn’t believe him. 

He also took a moment to add the free keychain that he received for buying the soulmate supplies at the store to his keys. 

“Excuse me. Are you Mr. Poindexter?”

Dex looked up sharply with his brow furrowed. He didn’t recognize the voice and there was no reason anyone in Providence would know who he was. “Ayuh. Why?”

“Delivery. Sign here.” The man held out a small tablet and a stylus. His demeanor suggested that he wouldn’t answer questions even if he could. 

Dex signed and was handed an envelope before the man disappeared back out of the shop. 

“What the-” He shook his head. 

Social media would have him believe that opening an unknown envelope from an unknown sender was a sure way to get anthrax or the plague. He opened it anyway. Inside was a black card. An honest to god black card. And an official letter from the issuing bank notifying him that it was on the account of Dr. Nurse. 

Great. Nursey’s mom didn’t think he could provide for her son for even a month. Well, she was wrong and he would prove it. He shoved the card into the back of his wallet for safe keeping, but he’d be giving it back to Nursey unused. 

Nursey might not want to form the bond with him, but Dex could damn well make sure that the decision was based on what Dex could offer by himself instead of gaming the system.

“Ok. Let’s get out of here.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is a lil late.

The train from Providence to Portland was just under four hours. Dex used the time productively. First, he confirmed with Uncle Roy that he would be returning to work on the boat the next day. And with Uncle John that he’d be back to work in the hardware/appliance repair store. 

Once his jobs were taken care of, he pulled up a web browser and started researching doves. What they needed to survive. What their personalities were like. What their habits were. 

He still wasn’t completely sure what they were supposed to eat. He hoped he didn’t mess Nursey up on diet plan wicked bad. Or worse.

“It’s weird. On the roadie bus, well, usually when we sit next to each other for any amount of time, by this point you’d be pressed against me or half into my lap or something.”

He didn’t bother to look at Nursey when he said it. Which is why he was shocked by the small feathery projectile that hit him in the chest and he barely managed to get his hands up to catch Nursey from the rebound. 

“Ok. You still want to sit on me? Ok.” Dex lifted Nursey up and got him to perch on his shoulder. “There. Now you can see everything and still sit on me. Just like normal.”

Nursey made a weird noise.

“Wha-” He broke off as realization dawned. “I’m not a pirate. You’re not a parrot. You can’t say ‘pieces of eight’ or ‘a tenner’ whatever you just tried to say.”

Nursey made some more noises by his ear.

“It’s not my fault.”

~*~

Honestly, what was the _point_ of being a bird on a shoulder if they couldn’t pretend to be pirates? Dex wasn’t even willing to try. Nursey fluffed his tail so it fanned out and hit Dex’s ear. 

Dex’s response was to twitch and pull away slightly, but he didn’t comment or move Nursey from the perch. Not even reflexively to brush at whatever hit his ear. It was weird.

It was unacceptable. Was Dex just not even going to engage in their usual back and forth? Their playful bickering? Their wrestling and intricate rituals?

Was Dex _mad_ at him?

He tried to think of the last time Dex had been truly mad at him. It didn’t happen often. Not anymore. Not nearly as often as Bitty seemed to think. But he was pretty sure that Dex just avoided him when he was mad. Then again, he was a bird and Dex was worried that he’d get eaten by a stray cat. Worry overrides anger, usually. So maybe Dex was mad but felt responsible for him. 

Nursey hunched down in a more comfortable position on Dex’s shoulder, then leaned over and rubbed his head against Dex’s neck, tapping it gently with his beak first. 

“I’m not going to feed you.”

Nursey wasn’t sure what Dex was talking about.

“Not yet. Not on the train. It says to feed doves once a day, but then they also leave it out all day. I guess you’ll nibble when you’re hungry.”

Nursey looked down at Dex’s phone. He’d assumed that Dex was texting or playing games or something. Was he looking stuff up?

“You had brunch as a human, so, I think you’ll be ok until we get home.” He sounded unsure. 

Nursey wasn’t actually hungry and hadn’t thought about it, so he rubbed his head against Dex’s neck again to reassure him.

“Ok, then.” 

And that was it. Dex went back to looking at things on his phone. Maybe Dex was mad. Either about the kiss, the fact that they were soulmates, or maybe the fact that his mom had sent Dex a credit card. He really wished his mom hadn’t done that. He knew that she thought it was saying “you’re part of the family now.” But he’d finally figured out that’s not how Dex would take it. 

Ok, yeah, Dex was probably mad about the card thing. Hopefully just that, not the kiss thing. Hopefully.

~*~

His ma was home when they arrived. It wasn’t that late, so he hadn’t been sure she would be.

“Will, there’s a bird on your shoulder.”

He grimaced. He probably should have warned her about Nursey.

“Ayuh. Ma, this is Nursey. Derek Nurse, from the hockey team. Nurse, this is my ma.” 

“Nurse, from the hockey team. So you kissed him?”

Dex could feel his ears starting to heat. “He kissed me. This morning. His parents aren’t going to be home and I’ve gotta work.” He shrugged with the shoulder that Nursey wasn’t sitting on.

“Ok. Well, do you want me to call Cheryl and see if she still has that canary cage?”

“Ma! I’m not putting Nursey in a cage. He’s a person.” He didn’t understand how she could even suggest it, honestly. He looked away and took a breath before looking back.

His ma blinked at him. “Of course not. I didn’t mean for him to stay in it. Just as place for him to go.”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “What? Like a hide hole? Doves can’t climb like parrots and stuff, they need more room. He should be fine in my room.”

“No. I mean like _go_.” She emphasized the word and made a gesture with her head and Dex finally figured out what she meant. “It’s got that tray for easy cleaning.”

“Oh. I’ve got a plan for that. Like I said, he should be fine in my room. Did Uncle John bring some stuff over?” 

“Ayuh. It’s on the back porch. Did you eat on the way up?”

Dex focused on not looking at Nursey out of the corner of his eye. “No. Not yet. I’ll grab something quick unless you want me to cook. I need to get my room ready and I’m going out with Uncle Roy in the morning.” 

“No. I’ve already eaten and I’ve got a late shift tonight.” 

Dex moved over to give her a hug. “I’m sorry I misunderstood you. Be careful.” 

“Mmhmm. You could tell Roy that you’re unavailable, you know.”

“I’ve missed too much work already.”

Nursey took that opportunity to rub his head against Dex’s neck, followed by a soft tap of the beak. He wasn’t sure why Nursey kept doing that. Maybe he was itchy. Dex would have to look that up later. 

After a quick sandwich, Dex checked the back porch to find the odds and ends of wood as promised. It was dark, but there was a bulb in his work shed, so he picked up the pieces he thought looked most promising and headed out. 

The websites had indicated that doves needed at least two perches or a shelf and a perch. He had a bookshelf that he could clear off, so that was no problem. The perches, on the other hand, well, he wasn’t sure what kind Nursey would like best. So he tried making one out of a dowel that he could set up somewhere. Then he’d seen some “Dove perches” out of plastic or wood that looked like little curved or triangular shelves just big enough for a dove to lay on. He wasn’t sure how that could be comfortable since the open ends went to the ground, but he made three out of wood anyway. 

“That enough for you? I guess if it’s not I can make you more later. We can try this for tonight.”

Nursey cooed at him and then tapped his neck again. Hopefully, that meant it was fine.

They headed back inside and Dex cleared off the shelf and set up the dowel perch, then spread out some newspapers in the corner. Then spread some more over them until it was a few layers thick, just in case.

“Ok. So, where do you want these other perches?”

Apparently, Nursey had been waiting for the question, because he took off and landed on Dex’s bed. “Uh, Ok. I can put one over my bed, I guess. Then one by the window? And,” he paused and looked around the room. It was pretty small. “I guess the last here between the bed and my desk?” 

Nursey cooed and that was probably the closest that he’d get to agreement, so he started drilling holes to attach the braces for the perches. 

“Just don’t poop on me while I’m sleeping.”

He was a bit worried when Nursey didn’t coo in agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

Nursey woke up at dawn, which must have been the bird thing because he definitely wasn’t in the habit of doing that on break as a human. But it was fine. It meant he’d have more of the day to spend with Dex. 

He took his time waking up, though. Stretching his wings and fanning his tail. The new body was taking some getting used to and he had a sneaking suspicion that it would be easier to break a bone in it. Once he was done and fully awake, he looked around Dex’s bedroom. Then looked again.

There was no Dex.

There was a bowl of seed mix and a bowl with some diced veggies and a thing of fresh water. But there was definitely no Dex. There had been a Dex when he went to sleep, but now there was no Dex.

And, ok. Dex had mentioned needing to get back to work. And if he thought back, Nursey was pretty sure that he usually got messages from Dex with super early time stamps during the summer. He’d just thought that they were super late time stamps.

But it was fine. Really. Dex had filled bowls with food for him before leaving. Dex had taken the time to prepare breakfast for him. That was a good sign. He was Dex’s first thought in the morning. Right? Right.

So, he waited for Dex to get back. And waited. And waited. And then it was dark. And Dex still wasn’t back. 

Dex couldn’t still be working. He should be with Nursey.

He wasn’t sure what time it was when Dex finally returned to the house. He didn’t turn on the light in the room to change, but the movement was enough noise to wake Nursey from where he was sleeping over Dex’s bed.

Nursey cooed his displeasure about being abandoned all day.

“Shh. It’s just me. Go back to sleep, Nurse.” Dex’s voice was soft in the dark as he climbed into his bed.

Once Dex stopped moving, Nursey fluttered down and settled down to use Dex’s pillow as a roost. 

“Nurse.” There was a weird catch in Dex’s voice. “I don’t want to move in my sleep and hurt you.”

Nursey tapped his beak against Dex’s head and fluffed himself one last time before tucking down to sleep. As though Dex would ever hurt him. But he sure wasn’t going to leave without waking Nursey up again.

~*~

Normally, Dex would work Saturdays on the boat with Uncle Roy and then at the shop with Uncle John. Sunday was only at the shop because lobstering was illegal on Sundays. So, he woke up on Saturday well before dawn and fully expected to clean and refill Nursey’s bowls and then head to work so that they could start hauling gear as soon as it was legal, half an hour before sunrise.

The sources he’d found on dove nutrition disagreed about whether or not vegetables were a necessary part of their diet, but most seemed to agree that having some a few times a week wouldn’t hurt them. And he didn’t want Nursey to get bored with seeds. He was nearly done chopping some carrots and broccoli when he got a text from Uncle Roy.

> Roy: Boat in dry for last minute inspection. See you Monday.

Dex made a face and finished mincing the vegetables. Once the veggies were delivered to Nursey’s dish and his hands and the utensils were washed, Dex sent a text to Uncle John. Maybe he could pick up some more hours at the repair shop. It wouldn’t be for a few hours even if he could because the store didn’t open until later.

It did mean that he could cook breakfast for his ma. He always liked doing that. The sun had been up for a while by the time he finished cooking and cleaning up. 

He also had an answer from Uncle John. No extra hours. 

With a sigh, he headed back to his room. He’d planned to show Nursey around what little of the town there was on Sunday, after his shift at the shop, but this way they’d have more time anyway. Maybe enough time to go out to the lake. 

As soon as he opened the door, he had about a second to react and catch Nursey as he hurtled towards Dex’s chest.

“You’ve got to stop making yourself into a projectile. You are going to hurt yourself flying into stuff.”

Nursey didn’t seem to be listening to him, instead making a lot of short noises and poking at Dex’s hand with his beak. 

“Ok, well, I don’t have to work on the boat today, so I was going to see if you wanted to get the tour around town, but if you’re mad at me…” He trailed off. He wasn’t sure why Nursey would be mad at him, but it definitely didn’t seem like a good thing for their third day of soulmate transformation.

Nursey stopped the noises and pecks and tilted his head to look up at Dex. Dex decided to take that as confirmation of wanting to be shown around town.

*~*

It didn’t take long to show Nursey the town. The school, the ice rink, the docks, his uncle’s store. That pretty much covered everything worth seeing.

Nursey was strapped into the truck as best Dex could manage, the seatbelt around a box lined with an old blanket and one of Dex’s flannels. Dex glanced over before pulling out of the repair shop parking lot. 

“I don’t have to be back until nine or so. Usually I’d go over after I got off Uncle Roy’s boat, but Roy said the boat had an extra inspection today. John said I couldn’t go in early. I was hoping there’d be enough repair orders in that I could talk him into letting me work an hour early, but. Well, you saw.”

Nursey didn’t make any noise in response and Dex sighed. He was probably just talking to himself. Nursey didn’t want to hear about his work schedule, or how not getting hours on the boat or in the shop meant his income was going to be shorter than it already was with the time he took off. The problem was, Dex couldn’t see how any gesture that Nursey needed wasn’t going to cost _something_ , and probably more to do it good enough for Nursey. And realistically, Nursey still wouldn’t form the bond with him. 

“Right. So, there’s a spot out near the lake that I want to show you.” 

They drove in silence until they got to the turn off. Dex frowned at the For Sale sign at the edge of the main road, his brow furrowed the whole way down the dirt road to the little cabin. Once he’d parked, he took a moment to send a quick text, then helped Nursey onto his shoulder.

“Try not to fly off outside here, not sure what’s around. But you can fly around inside.”

The cabin was old. It wasn’t in terrible shape, but it definitely wasn’t anything fancy. Pretty much one room with a kitchen area, sitting area, bed area, and then the bathroom. It needed some work. Especially if his uncle was going to sell it.

As soon as the door was closed, Nursey took off and flapped around the room a few times. He landed on a window sill and cooed at the view for a little bit, then flew back over to Dex.

“You like it? I know it’s not much, but.” He paused and twitched a half smile. “We used to come out here sometimes. Lots of memories here, growing up. Swimming in the lake. Cooking over a fire. Burning what we were cooking and making something else on the stove top.”

Nursey bumped his head into Dex’s cheek and Dex decided to take it as a sign of understanding, rather than telling him to shut up.

“When it’s kept up, it’s really cozy. Fire in the fireplace in the winter. The view is great all year. Can’t believe Uncle John’s gonna sell the place.”


	6. Chapter 6

The problem with lobstering was that while it was restricted to certain times in the summer, those times amounted to days that were over 17 hours long. They hauled their first trap at 4:30 am and dropped their last at 9 pm. Normally, Dex would then go to John’s store and do any pressing repair work before going home for a few hours of sleep before doing it all again. 

Normally, that was fine. Normally, that just meant not being able to reply to messages in the group chat until later. Normally, he could use Sunday to recover a bit, only needing to do any remaining repairs for the week and then clean some gutters before he could pass out. 

Normally, Nursey wasn’t a bird living in his room.

Normally, John didn’t tell him that he had the repairs covered and Dex could go out to the cabin to get it in shape for the new owner instead. Normally, he wasn’t trying to figure out what message he needed to say to form the first part of the bond. 

The first few nights, he was still getting into the rhythm again, so by the time he got home, he mostly just fell into bed and slept until his alarm went off to tell him it was time to make Nursey’s food for the day and get to work. Technically, there was downtime on the boat, but cell coverage wasn’t exactly great. 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Everyday, the same thing. Wake up before 4, make sure Nursey had fresh food, water, and newspapers, go to work, go to work some more at the cabin, home after 11, after Nursey was already asleep, crash until his alarm went off again. First week of soulmate transformation and he hadn’t spent any time with Nursey awake in three days. For those three days, he hadn’t spent more than 16 hours total in the same house as his soulmate. He’d had no time to work on the bond. 

Thursday, he was determined to stay up at least a little bit to download some resources on his phone so that he could read them on the boat over the next few days.

He managed half an hour.

~*~

No one was going to deny that Dex’s mom was cool. She was chill. She was nice. She worked a lot. Not as much as Dex, though. So, it wasn’t like he was left alone all the time.

It’s just. They spent Saturday going around town, and that was pretty interesting. Dex didn’t show him any tourist spots, but he got to see where Dex went to school and he saw some of Dex’s uncles and where he worked. Then they’d gone out to the cabin and that was really chill. He kinda wanted to go back out there while he still had wings and fly around some. He kinda wanted to see what the view looked like in fall with the leaves changing and in winter with snow everywhere. He kinda wanted to explore and see what other hidden treasures were around the area. 

He really wanted to write some poetry. Wings were not good for holding a pen. After he accidentally pecked a key off of Dex’s keyboard, he decided against trying to get Dex to leave a document open for him. It hadn’t even been the key he was trying to press. 

On the bright side, when Dex’s mom was awake and at the house, she kept a radio tuned to the channels that the boats used to communicate and he could listen in. Not that he knew what they were talking about or really cared. But it was comforting. He supposed it was kind of like the Weasley’s clock; he’d at least know if something terrible happened.

All in all, it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t even _that_ different from what he’d be doing on his own in New York, other than the menu and the fact that in New York he could visit some of his favorite shops and parks. It was fine. It was chill. But. Well. It wasn’t what he thought his soulmate transformation would be like.

~*~

Dex stared at his phone as the boat cut through the water. 

Dove versus hawk, seeks peaceful and diplomatic foreign policy rather than aggressive, warlike policy.

He looked up and across the water, gauging how far until he needed to put his phone away so he could start hooking buoys. 

Nursey wasn’t a warhawk. He was pretty sure on that. If he had to, he’d bet that Nursey was against the US military entirely. But was it that deep into his personality, that core to who he was, that his soulmate form was due to his anti-war stance? 

Dex looked back down and scrolled to the next option.

“As the hawk is wont to pursue the trembling doves.” -Ovid

That one didn’t even merit consideration. Nursey was not prey. Just because the quote voiced Dex’s very real fears about the dangers that Nursey was facing during the transformation did not mean that it reflected Nursey’s natural state in any way. He scrolled again.

“Those doves below, the ones utterly cared for, never endangered ones, cannot know tenderness.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

Again, he didn’t have to think about it. Nursey knew tenderness. He was weird about it, but he did. Dex checked the water and then scrolled again.

“The dove loves when it quarrels; the wolf hates when it flatters.” -Augustine of Hippo

He blinked. Well, that. That did sound like Nursey. Something about it felt off though. He felt like he was supposed to know who Augustine of Hippo was. 

There wasn’t any signal, and another glance at the water showed the boat was approaching their buoys, so he shoved the phone into a pocket. He’d work it out later.

* * *

Re: Restoration and Renovation Plans - Costs

Cost is no issue. Send me the invoices and I’ll wire payment. Whatever it takes to make his vision happen. My son would have spent far more by this point.

>   
>  I have attached preliminary sketches and cost analysis for the restoration and renovation of the cabin. Will has been working on the basic upkeep: replacing damaged floorboards; resealing the floors; cleaning the chimney. I’ve included his variation options for the renovation portion. He expressed concern about the cost of the plan he thought would most suit for future use. Thus the alternative suggestions.
> 
> As the new owner, I felt your opinion on which plan to follow was warranted.
> 
> John Poindexter  
>  Owner, Poindexter Hardware & Appliance LLC

* * *

Dex didn’t manage to get cell service again until they docked, at which point he had to drive out to the cabin. Which meant he didn’t get a chance to look up Augustine of Hippo until he got home late that night. 

“Early Christian theologian, eh. Doesn’t sound like your kind of guy.” 

Nursey didn’t respond. Mostly because he was asleep, with his head tucked down by a wing. Dex smiled, then turned to keep reading the page. Saint. Developed the idea of the Trinity.

Dex sat back and sighed with a shake of his head. He’d have to keep looking for what Nursey’s form meant. There was no way Nursey was connected to the guy who came up with the idea of original sin.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: animal scat. If you want to avoid discussions about animal poop, stop reading when you get to the last section which starts with "By the time Dex got home"

Nursey was, quite frankly, pissed. 

Like, ok. Dex had to work. Dex had to work _a lot_. Nursey knew that. Nursey understood that. Nursey had seen Dex completely fill his schedule at school with practice, class, work study, games, and repairing things at the Haus and still manage to complete his assignments. And possibly sleep.

Nursey used to be sure that Dex slept during the school year, but now he had his doubts. Because he had no definitive proof that Dex was sleeping during the summer. 

Or at least he hadn’t, until shortly after dawn on his second Sunday as a bird. Finally, Nursey woke up before Dex. Dex hadn’t been home when Nursey couldn’t stay awake any longer, like every other night that week. But this time, when he woke up, Dex’s bed was still full of one entire, whole Dex. 

Nursey flew over and made himself comfortable on Dex’s chest. He didn’t even care about food right then. That was a lie. He cared about the food a little bit. But he wouldn’t get food until Dex woke up and Dex was still sleeping, so Nursey was going to snooze with him. 

They were soulmates. It was allowed. It was expected. 

It was certainly what Nursey had expected. 

He’d expected that when he kissed his soulmate and one of them transformed, that the time would be spent together. Whoever was human sorting out the reason for the transformation. Taking the transformed person to places that were important to them so that both parties understood each other better. Working out some kind of communication. 

If he was really honest, he’d expected the bond to be completed quickly. Especially when it happened with Dex. He _knew_ Dex. Dex _knew_ him. There shouldn’t be any problem with getting this bond formed. 

Which led Nursey to the conclusion that Dex wasn’t trying. It made sense. Dex hadn’t been at his house or with Nursey all week. So he obviously wasn’t putting in effort to form the bond. 

_“Pretty sure you’re the one with plans on how to get rid of me, Nurse.”_

Nursey hunched down and rearranged his feathers. It was Sunday, now. So he could spend the day with Dex and make sure Dex understood that he wasn’t trying to get rid of him. That Dex should get a move on with the soulbond.

But first, a nap. 

Unfortunately, that was when Dex’s alarm started going off and Dex quickly shut it off and started moving.

Nursey gripped the sheet with his feet and tried to increase his mass through willpower so that Dex had to stay in place. Why was Dex’s alarm even set on a Sunday? And for so early?

Dex slowly opened his eyes and looked at Nursey with his brow furrowed. “Why are you on my chest, Nurse? You’re lucky I didn’t roll over and hurt you.”

Nursey tried to hold Dex down, but Dex was much larger at the moment -- a totally unfair advantage -- and easily picked him up. He expected to get unceremoniously dumped onto a perch or Dex’s desk, so he was pleasantly surprised when Dex continued to cradle him gently and carried him into the kitchen before carefully setting him on the back of one of the chairs. 

“Do you want peppers today? Sorry I’m late feeding you.” 

Nursey cooed happily in response, content that at long last, after a week of no contact, Dex was spending time with him.

The feeling lasted about fifteen minutes. Just long enough for Dex to dice up some peppers and freshen his food and water, then get dressed and brush his teeth. 

Just long enough for Dex to leave again.

~*~

Dex tapped his hands on the wheel as he drove to the cabin, his mind racing with the things he needed to get done. He’d let himself sleep in and he was regretting the choice, even if it had given him a few minutes with Nursey. Even if it had been really, really nice to wake up to Nursey roosting on his chest. 

The fact of the matter was, he was on a time limit and he didn’t have time to spare for _quality time_ moments. Over the week, he’d managed to replace the floorboards that had to be replaced, resealed the floors, blew in some better insulation for the walls, and cleaned the chimney. If he could manage to replace the old, worn out doors and get the bay window in, then he could start sealing the windows today too. That would make the cabin actually livable.

Then he could start working on making it _nice_. Putting in a window seat shouldn’t be a problem. Updating the appliances and cabinets would take some time, but he was confident in his abilities. 

The problem was going to be the bathroom. The whole thing needed to be gutted and redone. 

He blew out a sigh as he turned off the main road to head to the cabin. There was at least forty hours of work necessary for the bathroom, and even if he worked sixteen hours on Sundays and every other day after working on the boat, it was going to take more than a week to complete even the bare minimum to get just the bathroom up to grade. 

He would have to stay later each night and he’d stop being so damn sentimental and go in earlier on Sundays. The work had to get done. 

*~*

By the time Dex got home, it was late. Not as late as every other night, but late, and all he wanted to do was grab a quick bite to eat and go to sleep because he had to get up before dawn again. It was after dark, so he wouldn’t even get to interact with Nursey. At least he’d be able to be near Nursey. Most nights, when Dex got home, Nursey was sleeping on the perch over his bed. 

This time, he’d have a little time while he ate, so he could try to work on the bond again. Find something better than Saint Augustine. He just had to think like Nursey, that’s all. 

Dex walked into the house with a plan. A plan that was immediately destroyed by Nursey flapping over and landing on his head. 

“Why are you still awake? Doves are diurnal, Nurse.”

He tried to hold still so that he didn’t dislodge Nursey and hurt him, but also, Nursey was clinging to his hair and scalp with sharp feet. It wasn’t exactly comfortable. 

Then something warm, thick, and gooey plopped onto his head and Nursey took off, scratching Dex’s scalp as he launched himself to go flapping back to Dex’s room. 

So much for Dex’s plans.

He spent extra time in the shower, scrubbing his scalp with shampoo and soap multiple times even though it made the scratches sting. 

By the time he felt clean enough to get out and dry off, it was nearly time for his ma to be home, so he went ahead and cooked for both of them. He was sitting at the table, mechanically moving food from the plate to his mouth when she came in and grabbed her own plate before dropping into a chair across from him. 

“Thought you’d be in your room, looking up the bird stuff again.”

Dex shrugged and allowed his eyes to focus on her. “What does it matter? He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He’s your soulmate. Your friend.”

“He hates me. The universe was wrong to match me with him. He deserves better and he knows it.”

“Stop it. That’s not true.”

“Only 37 percent of transformations end in a soulbond. Not all of those remain in a romantic relationship after the bond is formed. It’s not unusual. The universe gets stuff wrong all the time.”

“That doesn’t matter. He loves you. He’s always looking for you and waiting for you.”

“He pooped on my head, Ma. It’s a pretty clear message.”

His ma looked at him quietly for a moment. “They say that a bird pooping on your head is an omen of good luck.”

Dex snorted and pushed away from the table to rinse his plate and put it in the dishwasher. “Is it really still good luck if it’s your soulmate who did it? And he did it intentionally?”


	8. Chapter 8

After expressing his displeasure, Nursey fell asleep to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. He woke up to clean, refreshed food and water bowls, and no Dex. Dex still hadn’t returned that night when he couldn’t stay awake any longer. 

He’d shown Dex that he was upset about Dex not spending time with him, and nothing had changed. He kept hoping, but he didn’t see Dex at all Monday or Tuesday, and Wednesday looked like it would be the same. 

Dex didn’t care. Dex didn’t want to spend time with him. Dex didn’t want to form the bond. Dex was just taking care of him because he felt responsible. 

He perched on the table in front of the radio, listening to the boats call to each other about ocean conditions and some minor idle chatter. He should have known that Dex wasn’t going to form the bond. Didn’t he think that first day? Dex had been sharing deets with Lardo and no one else. Dex had someone else he’d rather be with. Nursey was a problem for him. Nursey wasn’t the one he wanted. Nursey didn’t even have a chance to convince Dex that he was lovable because Dex didn’t care and never came home. 

“I wish he could see you like this.” 

Nursey wasn’t sure when Dex’s ma had walked into the room. He’d been pretty busy feeling sorry for himself.

“See how you sit here all day listening to the boats. Unless you have an interest in short range radios that he never mentioned, I’d guess that’s because you feel close to him.” She paused with a sigh. “My boy. I love him, but he’s wicked dense. Under some kind of impression that you hate him.”

Nursey sat up a little bit at that. Dex thought that he _hated_ him? That didn’t make any sense at all. Dex was his soulmate. Nursey went out of his way to spend time with Dex. Nursey tried to buy Dex things all the time. Nursey started wrestling matches just to be near Dex. Nursey. Well. Nursey loved Dex. 

If Dex wasn’t working on the soulbond because he thought that’s what Nursey wanted...well, Dex was wrong and needed to know.

~*~

The days after Nursey pooped on him went by in a haze of work. The boat, the cabin, home to sleep and do it again. It chafed. It wasn’t the first time that Dex had something that he’d rather do other than work. He wasn’t sure anyone ever actually liked work enough to want to do it when they could be doing something else. 

But it was probably the most trouble he’d had talking himself into continuing to go to work. The transformation period was nearly halfway over and he still hadn’t even gotten the first part of the bond. Nursey (Nursey!) was at his house, in his room, probably pissed off at him for some reason, but still. Nursey was his soulmate and at his house and he couldn’t even try to make the transformation be interesting. He had to work. 

And he really needed to stop moping about and worrying about the fact that, even if he figured out the bond, Nursey would never complete it with him. Not because it wasn’t helpful, but because the last thing he wanted to do was step wrong and end up dragged under by a sinking lobster trap.

He sighed and shook his head clear of the distracting thoughts. Work first, worry later. Then the boat slowed to a stop when they weren’t at one of their buoys. 

“Hey, Will. Come in here for a moment.” Roy motioned through the window for him to go into the wheelhouse when Dex looked up. 

When Dex stepped in, Roy held out a radio microphone. “It’s your Ma.”

“Hey Ma. Everything ok?” 

“Will. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Will.” She was definitely not ok.

“Hey Ma, hey. Talk to me, ok? What happened? If Roy needs to take me back in, I can come home. Are you hurt? Is Nursey hurt?”

“I’m so sorry. I was-” She paused as her breath hitched. “I was just going out the door like usual to go to work and he must have been waiting. I didn’t see him. He’s never even tried something like that before. I would have been more careful if I’d known.”

“What? Who was waiting? What happened?”

“Derek. He must have been hiding or something because as soon as I opened the door, he flew out over my head. I tried looking for him, but I couldn’t find him. I don’t know where he could have gone. I’m so sorry, Will.”

Dex felt his heart stop and squeezed his eyes shut. His legs felt weak, and he couldn’t hear the rest of his ma’s babbled apologies. “It’s not your fault, Ma. Derek does what Derek wants. He’ll. He’ll be okay. He’s smart. He probably just got bored at the house and wanted to fly around. I’ll have Roy take me back in and I’ll look for him. You go on to work.”

He opened his eyes and looked at Roy who nodded. Dex got his mom off the radio and swallowed as Roy started the engine back up and started turning the boat around. He squeezed his eyes shut again and wrapped his arms over his face as he tried to block out the visions of hawks and falcons that were filling his mind. Nursey _was_ smart. He could look out for himself. He _would_ be ok. 

He had to be. 

Then, tiny bird feet tried to find purchase on his scalp.

~*~

The part of his plan that he hadn’t thought through well enough was how to find Dex on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Well, not the middle. Lobstering was done pretty close to shore, all things considered. It was still a lot of ocean. 

Luckily, Dex had shown him what Roy’s buoys looked like and from the air it was easier to see farther. Once he’d found a buoy that looked right, he had an area to look for a boat. And then, well, he’d know Dex’s hair anywhere. It featured in a lot of his thoughts. He’d written more than one poem about it. He tried to grab hold of it as he landed, with minimal success. 

When he was human again, he’d have to remember to talk to Dex about reducing his trips to the barber and letting it grow to a respectable length for perching. Or running fingers through.

“Nurse?” Dex’s voice was barely a hoarse whisper, but he finally lowered his arms, which meant Nursey could move down to his shoulder which was much more stable footing. 

He cooed and tapped his beak on Dex’s neck before rubbing his head against it. 

“Holy shit, Nurse. You flew all the way out here.” Dex turned and made a motion towards the man inside the wheelhouse (Roy, presumably) and the boat engine cut off.

“That him, then? Safe?”

“Ayuh. Looks like it. Guess….” Dex trailed off and Nursey took the opportunity to tap his neck again. “Guess he decided to spend the day with me.”

Nursey bobbed his head. That’s exactly what he’d decided. If Dex wouldn’t spend the day with him, then he’d spend the day with Dex. Show Dex that Nursey wanted to be with him. He couldn’t force Dex to form the bond, but he could at least make it clear that he was here to be with Dex. 

Roy stepped back into the wheelhouse and the boat started moving again, this time in a different direction. 

“What if there’d been hawks or falcons? Did you even keep an eye out?” 

Nursey paused. He really hoped that Dex wasn’t just happy to see him because he was doing the grumpy worry thing again. Sure, Nursey might not have considered the fact that pigeons have predators that he needed to watch out for, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t take care of himself. He’d gotten himself to Dex after all. He tapped Dex’s neck again as proof.

~*~

Dex felt grumpy. He always felt grumpy when Nursey didn’t think through how something could hurt him. But this time, he’d really thought that Nursey might not survive and the relief at having him sitting on his shoulder was so much that Dex couldn’t articulate his feelings. 

It didn’t help that when he’d asked Nursey about predators, he’d paused and then responded with a series of soft pecks and weird noises.

“Ok. Ok. I know you can take care of yourself. I’m glad you can. I just.” He stopped and rubbed a hand over his face. “Why would you take the risk?”

At that, Nursey cooed softly and rubbed his head against Dex’s neck again. 

Dex forced a laugh. “Well, if you came all the way out here just to play pirates, you’re out of luck. It’s not safe to perch on my shoulder while I work. I’ve gotta start catching buoys in a minute. Let’s find someplace safe for you to sit.”

He tried to get Nursey to perch in the wheelhouse, but he just kept flying out after Dex and landing on his shoulder again. After doing that twice, Dex found some old rags that didn’t seem too dirty or stink too much and made a nest in a corner of the boat, between some gear that wouldn’t shift into him and would give some protection from the wind and other stuff. 

Luckily, Nursey seemed content to sit there and watch Dex snag a buoy and pull a trap in to work. Once he’d rebaited and dropped the trap and they started moving to the next buoy, Dex kept his eyes focused on the water. There was no way he could look at Nursey as he started to recite.

> Poor restless dove, I pity thee;  
>  And when I hear thy plaintive moan,  
>  I mourn for thy captivity,  
>  And in thy woes forget mine own.  
>    
>  To see thee stand prepared to fly,  
>  And flap those useless wings of thine,  
>  And gaze into the distant sky,  
>  Would melt a harder heart than mine.  
>    
>  In vain—in vain! Thou canst not rise  
>  Thy prison roof confines thee there;  
>  Its slender wires delude thine eyes,  
>  And quench thy longings with despair.  
>    
>  Oh, thou wert made to wander free  
>  In sunny mead and shady grove,  
>  And far beyond the rolling sea,  
>  In distant climes, at will to rove!  
>    
>  Yet, hadst thou but one gentle mate  
>  Thy little drooping heart to cheer,  
>  And share with thee thy captive state,  
>  Thou couldst be happy even there.  
>    
>  Yes, even there, if, listening by,  
>  One faithful dear companion stood,  
>  While gazing on her full bright eye,  
>  Thou might’st forget thy native wood.  
>    
>  But thou, poor solitary dove,  
>  Must make, unheard, thy joyless moan;  
>  The heart that Nature formed to love  
>  Must pine, neglected, and alone.

Nothing happened. Nursey didn’t even make a peep. Dex cursed under his breath as he prepared to snag the next buoy rope. He’d been certain that he’d heard Nursey refer to Anne as “the only reasonable Brontë.”

Once the pot was on the ocean floor and the buoy was floating merrily and they were on their way to the next one, he cleared his throat and started again.

> ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –  
>  That perches in the soul –  
>  And sings the tune without the words –  
>  And never stops – at all –  
>    
>  And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –  
>  And sore must be the storm –  
>  That could abash the little Bird  
>  That kept so many warm –  
>    
>  I’ve heard it in the chillest land –  
>  And on the strangest Sea –  
>  Yet – never – in Extremity,  
>  It asked a crumb – of me.

The wind whistled around him as the boat cut through the water, easing as they approached another buoy. He went through the motions with static running through his brain until they were underway again.

> Your world is as big as you make it.  
>  I know, for I used to abide  
>  In the narrowest nest in a corner,  
>  My wings pressing close to my side.  
>    
>  But I sighted the distant horizon  
>  Where the skyline encircled the sea  
>  And I throbbed with a burning desire  
>  To travel this immensity.  
>    
>  I battered the cordons around me  
>  And cradled my wings on the breeze,  
>  Then soared to the uttermost reaches  
>  With rapture, with power, with ease!

A warmth spread through Dex’s chest and he let his chin drop and his eyes close as a smile mirrored it on his face. He should have known to start with the Harlem Renaissance. 

A feathery projectile hit his chest and he reached up to catch Nursey on the rebound on instinct.

“Damn it, Nurse. You’re gonna fall off the boat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poems are The Captive Dove by Anne Brontë, "Hope" Is A Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickenson, and Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson.


	9. Chapter 9

After completing the first part of the bond, Nursey didn’t seem to want to leave Dex alone. Dex had to explain multiple times that it was dangerous on the boat and to please stay in the nest he’d made. Eventually he’d ended up getting frustrated. 

“Dammit, Nurse. People die out here from being distracted or making the wrong move.”

He hadn’t been able to look at Nursey for awhile after that. What kind of asshole was he, getting upset with his soulmate? But the thought of Nursey getting caught up in the equipment, or grabbed by a falcon, it was a lot. Dex couldn’t deal with that. He especially couldn’t worry about Nursey when he needed to be watching himself. 

Luckily, Nursey had apparently finally realized that he was serious and stayed in his spot, cooing constantly until the boat returned to harbor. Then he perched on Dex’s shoulder and started pecking his neck again. 

Dex didn’t try to stop him. It was just like usual, Nursey poking and prodding to get a reaction out of him. Or maybe trying to tell him that he needed to chill. 

He ended up not going out to work on the cabin that night. He couldn’t really afford to miss the time working to meet the deadline, but he also didn’t trust Nursey not to escape again and try to find him. 

Besides, it gave him a chance to hang out with Nursey and watch an old movie.

*~*

Somehow, it was almost worse to wake up after getting more sleep than usual. At least with his usual routine, he was used to it. Still, he woke up Friday morning and got through refreshing Nursey’s food and water with no problems and only minimal grogginess. Nothing indicated it would be an unusual day. 

Until he got to the docks and saw his cousin on the boat and Roy waiting for him.

“Al going out with us today?”

“No, son. He’s taking your place for the next bit.” Roy’s face wasn’t unkind, but it was impassive.

Dex was shocked. He hadn’t done anything to warrant losing his position. Sure, Nursey showed up out of the blue the day before, but Dex had made sure he didn’t impact their work and everything was safe. But most importantly, he couldn’t afford to not work. “Uncle Roy…”

“Don’t bother. It’s settled.”

“If it’s about Nursey flying out there, I don’t think he will again.”

Roy sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s about Nurse, yeah. I didn’t make you take your transformation time because you didn’t seem to want to change your schedule. I figured you just weren’t planning to form the bond. Some don’t. That’s fine. But I saw you when you thought Nurse was lost. I saw you when he arrived. I know you got the first part of the bond yesterday.” 

Dex blinked slowly. He wasn’t sure why Roy would have assumed that he didn’t want to form the bond, but still, none of that clarified why he wasn’t being allowed to keep working. 

“If you are trying to work on this, you can’t do it if you're on the boat with me all the time. Your soulmate shouldn’t have to _escape_ to find you and spend time with you. Al will help me out until your transformation time is complete.”

“I-” Dex broke off and looked away. “I need the money. I can’t afford to not work. Nurse is rich. He’s used to-. I gotta-.” Dex sighed. “Second part’s a gesture, right? I gotta show I can give what he needs and…. He’s rich.” 

Dex worked his jaw and stared into the middle distance. He wasn’t sure he’d gotten that close to voicing his concerns out loud before. His family knew he needed money. He’d always needed money. He had the job on the boat to start with because he needed money for hockey. But it was never said out loud. 

Worse, it was perilously close to admitting his fears about being good enough, about being enough, for Nursey.

“My sister is smart, why are her sons idiots?” 

Roy cuffed the back of Dex’s head lightly and Dex’s eyes cut back over to Roy who was rolling his own eyes. 

“Man makes a plan to sneak out of the house and search the ocean to spend the day with you while you work, he’s not worried about how much money you spend on him. He’s worried about how much time you spend with him. Government covers paid transformation time. Fill out the form. Al and I have to get to work.”

Then Roy turned and left Dex standing on the docks. 

He stared after the boat for a few minutes before returning to his truck. He couldn’t force Roy to let him work. Worst case scenario, he supposed he could use the card that Dr Nurse sent him, and pay her back when the government reimbursed him and he could work on the boat again.

He headed to the cabin with Lardo’s whispered admonition and Roy’s exasperated statement ringing in his ears.

“He’s not worried about how much money you spend on him.”

“Don’t fuck this up by thinking you don’t deserve him. He wants _you_. Figure it out.”

It would be ok. He’d make the money situation work, somehow. And not working on the boat meant he could spend more time on the cabin and still be able to get home and spend time with Nursey each day. He might even be able to meet the deadline on renovation.

*~*

Dex had been working on the cabin for about three hours when the door opened and nearly made him drop the tool he was holding. He wasn’t expecting anyone else out there. No one else had a reason to be out there. 

Which didn’t stop three of his cousins from filing into the little one room cabin and looking around. 

“Uh, hey. I can’t really hang out. Got a deadline…” Dex set the drill down and stood up, wiping his hands on his pants.

“Ayuh. We know about the deadline. And we’ve got your plans and your specs.”

Dex blinked at Mark, his oldest cousin and the one who’d spoken. “Oh, kay….”

“We also know that you’ve got someplace you’d better be than here. John says you’re not allowed out here anymore. We’ve got it covered.” 

Car doors slammed and more cousins slipped into the room. They started circling around behind him. Dex had a moment of panic. He needed to finish the renovations. He had to.

“We’ve got it covered. We’ve got your plans. John has the materials. We do this for a living.” 

It was true. Most of the cousins around him did construction of some sort, either full time or part time. More importantly, they continued to surround him and herd him towards the door. He probably could have fought them, fought to stay and work. He wasn’t sure how many it would have taken to drag him out bodily, but he did know how many had arrived and were clearly threatening to do that if he pushed it.

“Spend some damn time with your soulmate, already. Jeez, Will. You got family. You got people to help. Let us.”

*~*

Nursey had thought, after the day before, that they were finally on the same page. He’d gotten out of the house. He’d flown out to spend the day with Dex. Dex had been worried. Dex had been happy to see him. Dex had recited poetry to him. Dex hadn’t had to look up the poems he recited, which meant that Dex had memorized poems for him. Dex had completed the first step of the bond. 

Apparently, Dex did want to be soulmates.

So it made no sense when Nursey woke up to find Dex gone. Again.

Well, he’d done his part. He’d gone out and found Dex. He couldn’t force Dex to spend time with him. Wouldn’t want it, anyway, not if Dex didn’t want it, too. It was just frustrating because he was sure that he could show Dex how loveable he was, if only Dex was around. He wasn’t sure _how_ he would show that. He’d been flirting with Dex for two years. But if Dex was there, he’d definitely figure it out. 

Nursey hopped over to Dex’s bed and shoved his head under the blanket where it was slightly rumpled. It was warm, probably too warm, but with a little maneuvering, he was able to get his whole body under the blanket.

It was almost like Dex was there. 

The door opened, but Nursey didn’t want to hang out with Dex’s mom. Even if she was sweet to check on him.

“Nurse?”

Nursey opened his eyes. 

“Nurse?” 

That was definitely Dex’s voice. Dex’s voice starting to sound concerned. 

Nursey tried to wiggle his way out from under the blanket, but couldn’t figure out which direction was the right way to go. Then the blankets lifted and Dex was looking down at him. 

“There you are. Shit, Nurse. Trying to scare me? Playing hide and seek the day after you flew off by yourself.”

He was shaking his head, but Nursey ignored his comments, instead flapping up to sit on Dex’s shoulder and tap at his neck. 

“So, looks like I’m not working for awhile. Wanna see if we can find someplace safe for you to fly around? My uncle Neal is a janitor at the high school and will probably let us in the gym or something.”

Nursey cooed in response.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is nearly late. I was hoping to get it done early for Nursey's birthday, but this week has been a rough one for wording. Thank you all for bearing with me.

Dex was apparently not allowed to work _at all_. He’d tried going out to check on the cabin and been run off by his cousins. He’d tried stopping at the hardware store and Uncle John had directed him right back out, saying that if he actually needed something to call or text and it would be delivered. 

He fell back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Nursey landed next to him and look down at him.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with Nursey. He did. But it had been over ten years since he had last not worked through the summer. He didn’t know what to do with free time. 

He watched Nursey watch him.

That was the other thing. Nursey. He couldn’t just ignore Nursey and play games on his computer, or try to understand some code a bit better, or even go out to the workshed and make something. The whole point of not working was to spend time with Nursey. But there was _nothing_ to do. He’d already shown Nursey every interesting place in the area. Twice. 

“I guess if you were the human, you’d have a full list of things to do, huh?”

Nursey didn’t answer him. 

“Of course, if you were the human, I guess we’d be in New York City, and even I could probably find more things to do in New York City.”

Nursey moved and tapped his beak against Dex’s neck. 

“I’m pretty sure dove’s aren’t supposed to be vampires, Nurse.”

Nursey made a weird cooing noise and tapped his neck again.

“I really am pretty sure on this one. I looked at a lot of pigeon and dove feeding guides. None of them mentioned blood of the damned. Or blood of any sort, really.” 

Nursey pecked him on his neck. Hard. 

“Ow. Fuck, Nurse.” He rubbed at his neck and turned to look at Nursey who ruffled his feathers around and shook out his tail. “Ok, fine. No more jokes.”

They lay there in relative quiet for a few more moments. Nursey returning to a soft coo that Dex had decided must just be his default as a dove. Because, of course, Nursey couldn’t ever be completely quiet. Dex didn’t even really mind. It was actually rather soothing to hear Nursey coo. Reassured him that Nursey was nearby and safe, content. 

Weirdly, it kind of reminded him of their usual bickering. Nursey was just incapable of not making some kind of noise. And based on how Nursey acted when they were in public on roadies sometimes, Dex was pretty sure he only argued when he felt safe. 

“Tell me the truth, why did you always pick fights with me? Was it because you hated me? Because you wanted me to stop and think and do better? Or because you just love arguing and I was someone you felt comfortable enough with?”

Dex was staring at the ceiling again. It was a rhetorical question after all. Nursey was a bird.

Nursey tapped his beak against Dex’s neck again. 

“You know that doesn’t actually count as answering the question. Unless you’re saying that you fought with me because you’re a vampire, and I don’t believe you if that’s the case.”

Nursey rubbed his head against Dex’s neck.

“Still don’t know what that means.” He sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position instead of laying down and staring at the ceiling. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? I gotta figure out what all this means still.”

Quoting a bit of poetry at Nursey was all well and good, but it didn’t mean anything if he couldn’t figure out what act of service would show Nursey that he understood him and could give him what he most wanted. 

“You going to help me out? What do I have to do for Derek Nurse? I can’t afford to buy one, so maybe I could steal a Picasso or a Matisse?”

Nursey didn’t respond at all.

“Right. Exactly. Of course. Harlem Renaissance. A Van Der Zee, then?” 

He paused and sighed. “Kinda feel like the way to win your love is _not_ to be the white guy who steals important historical Black art.”

This wasn’t helping. 

“You wanna watch something on Netflix?”

Nursey cooed louder. That seemed like an actual, definite affirmative, so Dex got his laptop and set up for some binge watching. 

“What do you want to watch? Jessica Jones? Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? Twin Peaks?”

Nursey cooed again. 

“Ok. Twin Peaks.” He couldn’t really comment about how weird the show was. They were all pretty weird.

*~*

Dex had disappeared for a little while that morning, which was concerning to Nursey because Dex _kept_ doing that. They only had four weeks, start to finish, and more than half of that was past. Where was Dex going? 

Apparently, not much of anywhere this time because he’d returned not too long after he’d left and then dropped onto his bed again. 

Nursey listened while Dex talked. He wasn’t really sure how to reassure him that it was chill to just hang out at his house. Literally, if he hadn’t transformed, Nursey’s summer plans had mostly involved hanging out at his own house, so this was chill. He tried tapping Dex on the neck.

Then Dex went into a tangent about stealing famous artworks for him. And he was pretty gone on Dex, but it was probably better if they didn’t start their soulbond with a felony. He wasn’t entirely sure what that would do to the bond, but it seemed like a bad idea. Luckily, Dex talked himself out of it pretty quickly. 

And into Netflix. Dex started listing options and Nursey wasn’t sure what he’d been watching to get these as the suggested options, but when Dex said Twin Peaks, he chimed in on that one. He loved Twin Peaks and it was always worth a rewatch. 

Unfortunately, he’d forgotten about the fate of Waldo. He remembered when they found him in the cabin. Apparently, Dex hadn’t watched the show this far because he didn’t seem to realize what was going to happen. 

“Why couldn’t you be a myna bird? You’re smart enough. Then you could talk and just tell me what you want me to do.” Dex sighed. 

Nursey was about to try to give him a reassuring tap, when Dex continued speaking.

“You had to be a songbird instea-” Dex broke off and sat up, looking down at Nursey. “You asshole.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is late. I was sick all weekend and had work stuff on top of that. Hopefully this chapter still makes sence, but if it's ooc, just imagine they are also in a Nyquil haze like I was while writing.

Dex stared at the wikipedia article on songbirds and deflated. It only took a small movement to turn and look at Nursey on his perch by the desk.

“I’m sorry I called you an asshole. Apparently, you aren’t a songbird.”

Nursey made a noise back at him and he hoped it was forgiveness. 

“What kind of bird are you then? Not a songbird, a raptor, a waterfowl, a carrion bird.” He trailed off. He should definitely have figured this out by now. How was he supposed to know what he was supposed to understand about Nursey if he didn’t understand what kind of bird Nursey was?

He clicked into the search bar and pulled up the article for fancy pigeon.

“Any breed of domestic pigeon, domesticated from the rock dove, yes yes. Exhibited at pigeon shows.” 

He glanced at Nursey again. “Want to enter a pigeon beauty pageant? Prove you’re a pretty bird?” 

Nursey didn’t respond, so he turned back to the computer and opened another tab to check for pigeon and bird shows before the month was up. 

“Huh. Seems like there aren’t any pigeon beauty pageants available. Probably for the best, you’d be insufferable after winning.”

Nursey replied with a trilling coo and flapped over to land in front of Dex at the computer. Dex pulled back a little to give him room as he fanned out his tail and started hopping side to side while flapping his wings a little try to maintain balance. It wasn’t helping very much and he nearly fell over multiple times before he finally stopped hopping around.

Dex blinked at him. “I don’t think pigeon beauty pageants have a talent competition. They’re probably separate things for birds.”

Nursey made a noise.

“There weren’t any pigeon talent shows either. Your….dancing? Your dancing will have to just be a hobby. But, maybe on the floor? So you don’t hurt yourself if you fall.”

Dex decided it was probably safer for everyone if he didn’t tell Nursey that the pigeon talent shows were usually for aerial skills. 

The Fancy Pigeon wikipedia page didn’t have any more useful information, instead ending with a break down of the groups that the breeds could be divided into for showing. Dex scrolled back to the top and clicked the link for the Domestic Pigeon page.

“Subspecies of the rock dove, oldest domesticated bird.” Dex rolled his eyes over to Nursey. “Really? Had to go vintage?”

Nursey cooed and shook his tail while bobbing around.

“Hipster.”

Nursey did the weird coo again and then flapped up to perch on Dex’s shoulder, tapping his beak against Dex’s neck.

“Well, you are.” He scrolled down further. There wasn’t really any reason to read the Reproduction section. It was intended for actual pigeons, not soulmate transformations. 

The problem was, it would bug him if he didn’t at least skim all the information. What if the key to figuring out the bond was in that paragraph? So, he read it. It was only a few short sentences. Humans selecting breeding pairs wasn’t useful, as he expected. The information about crop milk wasn’t really useful either.

> Pigeons are extremely protective of their eggs, and in some cases will go to severe lengths to protect their productive eggs and have been known to seek revenge on those who interfere with their productive process. Baby pigeons are called squeakers or squabs.

Dex froze. He wasn’t sure if it applied to Nursey or not; he’d never seen Nursey with kids. But he was sure that people didn’t randomly kiss someone with no warning unless they were pretty sure that the person wasn’t their soulmate. And he was sure that Nursey was bi. Which wouldn’t matter, except….

Except if Nursey had thought Dex couldn’t be his soulmate. If Nursey wanted squeakers to be protective of. If Nursey was the hopeless romantic that he was.

Nursey had wanted to have kids with his soulmate. Something not exactly biologically possible with Dex. 

Nursey’s beak tapped lightly against his neck, followed by the trilling coo, and Dex remembered that breathing was recommended by nine out of ten doctors as more than just an occasional hobby. 

He took a slow, deep breath and counted the inhales and exhales for a few moments. 

It was fine. It was just fine. Nursey hadn’t been acting upset about the situation, other than the one incident. Either Nursey was fine with not forming the bond, or Nursey was fine with having the bond with him and doing whatever after, or Nursey was fine with whatever. Who knew what Nursey was fine with? Apparently not Dex.

He bit his tongue to distract himself. This wasn’t helping. 

He scrolled down the rest of the article. Homing pigeons, use in war, other uses including meat, exhibition, and sporting, blah blah blah.

“Ability to read, and basic numerical skills equivalent to those shown in primates. Huh. I told you that you were smart enough to be a myna bird.” 

~*~

Dex was finally sitting down to do some research and Nursey could not be happier. Apparently, Dex had missed the memo that his only job and main goal during his soulmate’s transformation was to figure out how to form the bond so that the transformation could end and they could get back to the kissing that started it all. Or something like that. 

Even better, Dex called him the pretty bird. Not directly, of course, but he indicated that Nursey was a given for winning any pigeon beauty pageants. It could only mean one thing. 

Dex was flirting.

And if Dex was going to flirt, then Nursey wasn’t going to be outdone. He’d been practicing flirting with Dex for years. It was time to bring his A game. 

Which was easier said than done, since he was a bird. And it wasn’t particularly easily said, because...he was a bird. 

Fortunately, he had a plan. He had a secret weapon thanks to a folder of movie files he’d received from the old goalie, Johnson. He had The Moves.

He flapped down in front of Dex and spread his tail, puffed out his wings and hopped in an exact replica of the dance that Toothless performed (in a movie that apparently didn’t exist, but he knew better than to ask Johnson about that). 

And Dex thought he was trying to dance for a talent show. The man was impossible to flirt with. That was the problem. It wasn’t that Nursey was bad at flirting. Dex was just bad at being flirted with.

Dex kept reading through, some of it outloud, so Nursey decided to perch on his shoulder again. He liked it there. He liked being able to poke at Dex’s neck and coo at him. See what was going on. Know that Dex wasn’t going to disappear off to work again.

Dex got quiet for a bit, so he tapped Dex’s neck and trilled a coo until he started scrolling again. Then Dex called him smart again, the flirt. 

Nursey decided that it was chill that Dex was bad at being flirted with, just so long as he kept flirting with Nursey. 

“Hmm. Mate for life, but if you separate them from their mate for long enough, they’ll bond with a new mate…” 

Dex shifted like he was trying to look at Nursey on his shoulder. “Look, you don’t have to stay with me, but how long is long enough? Are you going to forget about me over winter break?”

Nursey cooed at him placatingly. If he could figure out how to carry a tune as a dove, he’d try to get the tune out for “Don’t You Forget About Me.” He did his best anyway. 

“Is that why you want me to skype you all the time?”

Nursey tapped his beak against Dex’s neck and trilled some more. Finally, Dex was getting it.

Dex rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen. But only for a moment. “Wait, struts around and trills a lilting coo different from his normal…. Nurse, are you _flirting_ with me?”

Nursey cooed happily again. If he could talk, he would have said “Have been, thanks for noticing.” He hoped Dex could translate regardless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How To Train Your Dragon: Hidden World apparently didn't come out until 2019 and this is in 2016. But _luckily_ little things like space time are no problem for one metaphysical goalie named Johnson, so he made sure Nursey was aware of the best way to flirt when one has wings.


	12. Chapter 12

> LDuan: William.
> 
> Will: Larissa.
> 
> LDuan: You said you remember the rule.  
>  LDuan: Deets.
> 
> Will: None to tell.
> 
> LDuan: None?  
>  LDuan: You better not be ignoring this.
> 
> Will: I’m not. Time off work and all. Got the first link or whatever. A poem. 
> 
> LDuan: Then what’s the prob?
> 
> Will: That’s it. Got the first link. Next step is give Nursey something he wants. Got nothing he wants.
> 
> LDuan: You know what he wants.
> 
> Will: said once. Library full of expensive rare books.  
>  Will: Just checked, fresh out.
> 
> LDuan: You’re smarter than this.  
>  LDuan: Text deets when you figure it out.  
>  LDuan: Or Ford and I will kick you out of Responsible Club.

~*~

Nursey sat on his perch over Dex’s bed and watched Dex get ready. He was wary because Dex was taking a lot of time and care in getting ready. The sort of time and care that Nursey had never seen Dex take before. He was pretty sure Dex wasn’t getting ready for work - it had been a few days since he’d even attempted that. 

This looked a lot more suspiciously like getting ready for a date. 

Which didn’t make sense. Nursey was still a bird. He shook out his feathers in confirmation of that fact. A fact that seemed like it would make this an inopportune time for them to go on their first date.

The other option was that Dex was getting ready for a date with someone else. Which didn’t make sense because he’d never known Dex to go on a date with anyone, and during the soulmate transformation period seemed like poor taste.

An annoying voice in the back of his mind reminded him about Dex and Lardo talking about how he’s always shared deets with her even if he didn’t share with anyone else. 

But it was like nine in the morning. Which seemed an odd time for a date in any situation.

Then Dex put on a kilt. A real kilt. A great kilt. A length of fabric that he carefully folded and wrapped around his body before pinning it in place. And Nursey let out an appreciative coo while forgetting about all his prior concerns.

Dex looked over sharply. “Are you chirping about this right now?”

His face and chest were starting to flush pink and Nursey flapped over quickly to land on his shoulder. Nursey tapped his beak against Dex’s neck and cooed. 

Dex had to have gotten compliments before, right? If not, whoever Dex had been giving deets to Lardo about had definitely been failing him. 

The pink deepened. 

“Oh. Ok.” Dex looked away from the shoulder Nursey was on. “Look, I don’t think anyone will be weird about you today, but if they do, just come over and tap me three times like that, ok? Or like, if you want to leave for any reason, tap me like four times.”

Nursey cooed happily in response. He still wasn’t sure what Dex was talking about, but it sounded like Dex intended to take him wherever he’d gotten all dressed up to go. Which was perfect, because as far as Nursey was concerned, he should definitely be any place that Dex was looking that hot. 

*~*

They ended up on the main street of town. It was blocked off to traffic and a bunch of booths and tables were set up along the sides of the road. There were a bunch of nets stretched across the street from the top of the buildings. 

“They said they’d do that. Should keep hawks and falcons and stuff out. You’ll still have to watch out for stray cats and stuff, but...yeah.” Dex ran his hand through his hair and then gestured at a smallish box at the back of one of the booths. “It’s not much, but I put your seed and water in here, along with a flannel for you to lay in if you want to get away from the crowd or whatever. Should keep it safe from other birds or, uh, squirrels? Whatever. So yeah. You can explore or whatever and you should be pretty safe.”

Dex was cute. A certified dumbass, but cute. While a quick fly around did sound inviting, there was no way Nursey intended to be very far away from Dex if given the choice. He flung himself at Dex to make that clear.

“Oof. Dammit Nurse. Are you trying to break your neck?”

Nursey ignored Dex’s question. Dex would catch him. Dex always caught him. He cooed happily as Dex set him on his shoulder.

“If you don’t want to fly around right now, that’s fine. But fair warning, you probably won’t want to stick too close either. We perform first.”

Which didn’t make sense. At least, it didn’t until Dex picked up a drum with a strap and wrapped it around his waist, then joined a group of other men dressed in kilts that looked a lot like Dex’s and holding bagpipes and drums. 

“William. Should you be here when ‘e’s still like that?” One of the men pointed a drumstick at Nursey. 

“It’s fine.” 

“Thought Roy had Al come down so you could get that sorted.” 

“I said it’s fine.”

“You said you were good to perform today.”

“And I am, aren’t I?” Dex had his shoulders squared and was meeting the gaze of all the other men. 

They were all older than Dex, by Nursey’s estimate. He was pretty sure he’d met some of them before. Uncles or cousins or something. One of the men raised his eyebrows in response to Dex.

“Guess you are. Is he going to be ok?”

Dex paused for just a moment before replying. “Ayuh. Whole point of the month, isn’t it? He’s gotta know that I’ve got this commitment.”

Nursey cooed and bobbed his head to approximate a nod. He wasn’t really sure what was going on, but Dex was his partner, his liney, his _soulmate_ , and Nursey had his back one hundred percent.

“Alright then.” The man turned and brought his sticks down on his drum.

The other men with drums and Dex immediately followed suit in sync and then the bagpipes joined in. It was loud. It was very loud. And Dex’s shoulder wasn’t exactly a stable place to sit because he was busy drumming. 

Nursey decided that he should find a better perch, so he flapped over to a good vantage point. Not too far away, where he could watch Dex. It was perfect. 

*~*

Nursey didn’t think things could get better than watching Dex perform in front of a crowd, clearly confident in himself and doing something he enjoyed, while wearing a kilt. But then Dex had spent a couple of hours at the booth cooking and making small talk with people he knew from the town. Nursey could tell which ones were local because Dex was more at ease with them. There was a tenseness around the tourists. A tenseness that Nursey just now realized Dex had carried with him for a very long time at Samwell. 

If Nursey thought that the end of Dex’s shift cooking meant that they’d be going home, that thought was banished by the appearance of a small army of small children. One, who looked like she was about five, ran straight into his leg and he picked her up and spun her around, to her squeals of delight, before setting her down and scooping up an even smaller child to hold on his hip. 

“Will! You promised you were gonna teach us. You promised.”

Dex looked at the dozen or so children and frowned. “Did I say that?”

One of the oldest, about ten or twelve, nodded solemnly. “You did, Will. You promised.”

“Well, if I promised.”

Nursey wasn’t going to be left out of whatever was going on, so he took up his favorite perch on Dex’s shoulder. The shoulder away from the toddler, just in case.

“Have a birb, Will?” 

“Just for a little bit. This is my soulmate, Derek. Nurse, this… is the notorious Poindexter Gang. Renown throughout the land for their sneaky deeds and daring heroics. And today, they are going to learn to pick locks.”

Nursey was starting to think that this might be the best day of his life.

~*~

> Will: Ok. I’m going to need help.
> 
> LDuan: bout time.  
>  LDuan: Got your back bro.


	13. Chapter 13

Sometimes Dex went out at night. When he was working, he never came home before sundown. But even since then, sometimes Dex would go out at night. Never before cooking for his mom, if she was around. And he always took Nursey with him. Usually they ended up in the middle of nowhere on a rocky beach or a cliff. Dex would stare at the dark water or up at the stars. Sometimes they’d go to someone’s house or business and Dex would help after pointing at Nursey being there as a reason the person couldn’t tell him to leave. Nursey was fine with that. He liked watching Dex work. 

He’d looked up once, during their Frog year, how much it would have cost to hire a repairman for the work that Dex did around the Haus. He wasn’t exactly sure what Dex did to fix the oven and dryer, but lowest estimates indicated it probably should have set the team back at least $100 per repair, probably more like $300 each time. It’s why he’d been so sure that Dex was going to get dibs in the attic.

But just like at the Haus, Dex waved off payment for his help around town if it wasn’t related to his actual jobs. He left houses with casseroles, knit hats, and interesting bits of driftwood, but rarely actual money. And always in a way that made it obvious that this was the normal procedure. That Dex would refuse cash even if it was offered, though some still made the attempt. Nursey was pretty sure it wasn’t just a display for his benefit. He wondered if any of these people found Dex’s refusal to take monetary assistance as aggravating as he did.

Probably not, they were trying to pay him for services rendered and Nursey was trying to buy him things to woo him. None of these people wanted to woo him.

Well, maybe Clarise. She was flirting awfully hard, which was downright rude because Nursey was _right_ there. He’d perched on Dex’s shoulder, fanned out his tail and told her what he thought of someone who would flirt with someone clearly working on their soulmate transformation period. Besides, Dex was obviously not interested. Read the room, Clarise. 

Which was all to say, Dex getting ready to go out at 9 PM shouldn’t have been a cause for concern, really. Except that the month was almost up and Dex was doing that thing again where it looked like he was getting ready for a date. No kilt this time, though. 

He was about to start worrying that Dex had given up early and was going out with someone else, when Dex appeared with the box that had been acting as Nursey’s car seat. Nursey flapped over to it happily, cooing that he’d never doubted Dex for a second.

He didn’t know what was happening, but it _looked_ like Dex was taking him on a date. He wondered what their first date was going to be. 

Sure, the trips out to stargaze could have been considered dates, but this was the first time Dex had gotten dressed up in his formal flannel. It was clearly a special occasion.

What he did not expect was to end up parked outside a bar while Dex stared out the windshield without moving to get out of the truck. 

He looked over at the bar. It looked pretty normal. A few neon beer signs. A solid looking door that probably had a bouncer checking IDs on the other side. Maybe that was the problem. Dex wasn’t 21 yet. Actually, Nursey wasn’t either, but would they ID a pigeon?

He made a questioning sound and Dex finally turned and looked at him. 

“Yeah. Ok. It’s just like the fest, right? Yeah. It’s not like everything hinges on this.” Dex clicked his jaw shut and ran hand over his face and hair, tousling it in the process.

Nursey tilted his head. Dex wasn’t making any sense. What was everything hinging on? And, for that matter, what was the “everything” that was hinging on it? It couldn’t be the bond, they still had a couple of days to form that. Granted, that was cutting it closer than Nursey would have preferred, but still, they had time. 

Apparently, his pep talk worked though, because Dex finally unbuckled his seatbelt and got Nursey and himself out of the truck.

“It’s my uncle’s bar.” 

Nursey cooed in response. He assumed Dex was explaining why he wasn’t worried about getting past the ID check. 

All things considered, he should have figured it out sooner. But Dex walked into the bar with Nursey on his shoulder and exchanged pleasantries with the bouncer. The bouncer said he’d tell someone that Dex was there and Dex nodded. It was a pretty small bar, probably limited by the fire marshal to fewer than one, maybe two, hundred people. He actually wasn’t sure how they determined the maximum occupancy. But there were some booths along the wall, some tables, a small dance floor and an even smaller stage. He nearly didn’t recognize their friends sitting at one of the booths until Dex stopped beside it and exchanged some fix bumps. He supposed it wasn’t that outlandish for Lardo, Shitty, Ransom, and Holster to all be there -Boston was _that_ far away. 

But Chowder and Farms were there, too, which meant they’d flown in special to see him. He launched himself off of Dex’s shoulder and perched in front of them, cooing a bit. They seemed to like it when he showed off his tail. 

When he turned back towards Dex, he was watching Nursey show off and there was a weird tightness around his eyes and mouth. Nursey thought it was a positive sign that he was getting good at reading Dex’s tells, and promptly returned to Dex’s shoulder where he could tap his neck and rub it with his head. He felt a little bit of the tension leave Dex’s shoulders. 

Then some guy came over and whispered in Dex’s other ear and he waved at their friends before approaching the tiny stage. Nursey got transferred to a barstool that was sitting at the side of it and Dex picked up the microphone as music started to play.

That was when the situation finally started to click into place for Nursey. 

As soon as Dex opened his mouth and that sweet bass voice rang through the room, Nursey felt a warmth spread through his chest. 

“Well, I’m shameless, when it comes to loving you….”

Dex hadn’t actually finished the line when Nursey launched himself at Dex, but it was fine. It was all going to be just fine. Dex always caught him.


	14. Chapter 14

Dex didn’t have time to brace himself when Nursey flung himself across the stage, which meant he nearly dropped the mic and had to take a step back to absorb the impact. 

“Fuck, you’re heavy.” 

Being hit with 200 pounds of 6’2” D1 defenseman was no joke. He didn’t even have any pads on. They were lucky they both didn’t end up on the floor. 

“Told you, you’d sing for me, Dexy.” Nursey’s nose was in the hair behind Dex’s ear. His hands were wandering around Dex’s back and chest. Dex wasn’t sure, but thought that Nursey was trying to hitch a leg around his waist as well. 

“Well, I was trying to.”

“You even brought our friends. And like, your entire town-”

“Not the whole town.”

“-You sang for me in front of everybody.”

Dex tried to pull back so that he could look at Nursey. “Ayuh. Of course.”

Nursey held on tighter.

“Nurse?”

“Chyeah?”

“Can I finish the song? People look like they want to hear some music.” That wasn’t entirely true. The crowd had applauded and whistled and catcalled. Actually, that might have mostly just been their friends. It wasn’t like Dex didn’t appreciate the very real, and very physical proof that Nursey was happy to have formed the bond with him, it’s just there was a wicked huge difference between declaring his love through public grand romantic gesture and being climbed like a tree on a stage in front of a good portion of his hometown and their closest friends.

Nursey finally eased up on the clinging. “Oh. Chill. Yeah.” 

“The stool ok? I’ll be right here.” 

Nursey nodded and finally let go completely, slowly extricating himself and backing to the stool to sit. 

Dex gave him a small, private smile, then turned towards his cousin. “Scott?”

The music started again from the top and Dex sang his love for Nursey. To Nursey, to his neighbors, to their friends.

> Well I'm shameless when it comes to loving you  
>  I'd do anything you want me to  
>  I'd do anything at all  
>  And I'm standing here for all the world to see  
>  There ain't that much left of me  
>  That has very far to fall

The next part wasn’t technically true. He had insecurities. Nursey knew his insecurities. Knew which ones were deep. Knew which ones he’d do just about anything to keep hidden. But if he had to bare them all to the world for Nursey. Well, he was shameless.

> You know I'm not a man who has ever been  
>  Insecure about the world I've been living in  
>  I don't break easy, I have my pride  
>  But if you need to be satisfied  
>  I'm shameless, baby I don't have a prayer  
>  Anytime I see you standing there  
>  I go down upon my knees

He turned to face Nursey full on for the next part. This was the start of what made this song fit how he felt about Nursey. It seemed right to say, sing, it to him directly.

> And I'm changing, I swore I'd never compromise  
>  But you convinced me otherwise  
>  I'll do anything you please  
>  You see in all my life I've never found  
>  What I couldn't resist, what I couldn't turn down  
>  I could walk away from anyone I ever knew  
>  But I can't walk away from you  
>  I have never let anything have this much  
>  Control over me  
>  Cause I worked too hard to call my life my own  
>  Yes I made myself a world  
>  And it worked so perfectly  
>  But it's your world now, I can't refuse  
>  I never had so much to lose  
>  I'm shameless, shameless  
>  You know it should be easy for a man who's strong  
>  To say he's sorry or admit when he's wrong  
>  I've never lost anything I ever missed  
>  But I've never been in love like this  
>  It's out of my hands  
>  I'm shameless, I don't have the power now  
>  But I don't want it anyhow  
>  So I've got to let it go  
>  I'm shameless, shameless as a man can be  
>  You can make a total fool of me  
>  I just wanted you to know  
>  I am shameless  
>  Shameless  
>  Shameless

The music faded out and he put the mic in the stand so that he was prepared this time when Nursey glomped onto him.

“You sang for me, Dexy.”

“Ayuh.”

“Thank you.” The words were soft, quiet, barely heard over the crowd. Somehow Nursey seemed to be talking about more than fact that Dex had sung for him.

“I had a whole set list planned, if you want me to keep going.”

“Ch’yeah?” 

Dex nodded. “Back left pocket.”

He felt Nursey reach into his pocket and pull out the paper, then heard it unfold. 

“Chill. But, you know…. We could have a private concert instead….” Nursey’s hand had found its way back into Dex’s pocket. 

“Ok. Let’s get out of here.”

The thing about this being his uncle’s bar was that it meant Dex had worked in it a few times over the years and he knew the quickest way out the back employee entrance. They were in his truck (and Nursey was pouting because Dex insisted on seatbelts for both of them before he would put it in gear) before Nursey turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“Chill. We didn’t even say bye to C and the rest.”

Dex pulled onto the road. “I warned them all ahead of time that if this worked we would probably not talk to them until tomorrow. Or sometime.”

“You warned them ahead of time?”

“Ayuh.”

“You gave them a head start on working on chirps?”

“Ayuh.”

Nursey was quiet for a long moment and Dex risked a glance over. Nursey was staring at him with his mouth slightly open. “You opened yourself up for chirps _knowingly?_ ” There was half a beat before Nursey continued, quieter. “You really do love me, huh?”

Dex frowned and glanced at Nursey again. “Did you not listen to the song at all?”

“Chill. I mean…. This isn’t the way to your house.”

Dex rubbed his hands on the steering wheel. He’d hoped it would take longer for Nursey to realize that. “Ayuh. We’re not going to my house.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the backup plan.”

“I knew you had to have a backup plan. You’re Dex.”

~*~

Dex refused to tell him where they were going and everything looked different in the dark. Which meant Nursey didn’t figure it out until they had parked in front of the cabin. 

“Chill. I didn’t see the for sale sign on the way in.” He slowly unbuckled and got out of the car. Something seemed different.

“Yeah. It’s not for sale anymore. It was sold.”

“Oh man. I was gonna buy it for you.”

“The hell you were.” 

Nursey looked over at Dex who bit his lip and rubbed a hand through his hair. 

“I bought it. For you. Well. It’s wicked complicated. Your mom has the deed. I’m not sure on the specifics of how it’s set up. There was something about a warranty deed encumbered by a trust deed. I’m not even sure that’s how it finally went down. Your mom bought it. She has the title in trust for you. So it’s yours, no matter what happens between you and me. But the loan and stuff is in my name, so I’m paying her back for it, or making the payments on it. Like.” Dex trailed off and licked his lips before he started fumbling with his keyring and headed for the door.

“I just couldn’t pay for it all upfront. And I didn’t have time to save up, or even time to get approved through a bank for a loan. So your mom said that I could pay her back over a few years or whatever.” He finally got the door open and then paused just inside, staring around wide eyed. “Or maybe a lot of years. I definitely told them to stick to my budget.”

Nursey stepped in behind him and looked around. The place was transformed. New appliances in the kitchen area with a granite countertop and island. The chimney was redone. The floors looked new or at least refinished. There was an entire wall of floor to ceiling built in bookshelves. The back wall had a giant bay window added with a comfy looking window seat, perfect for nesting in and reading. There was a writing desk. The door to the bathroom was closed, but he’d bet that it was renovated as well.

“Your uncles did this?”

“My cousins. I was going to do it all. You know, ‘he sings a lilting coo different from his normal call, and builds a nest.’ But there was barely any time. Couldn’t start until after dark because of the boat, and only Sunday on weekends. When they had me stop on the boat, I thought I could probably do it. But then my cousins showed up and told me to spend time with you.”

Nursey stared at Dex and took a few deep breaths. “The reason you were never at your house was because you’d been working on this for me from the start?”

“Ayuh. You were a bird. I figured you needed a nest even before I read the stuff.” 

Nursey looked around again. “What happened to the bed area? There was a bed area.”

“Oh! Yeah.” Dex walked over to the second built in bookcase from the end, Nursey right on his heels. He pointed at a book, _Home to Harlem_ , then pulled it from the top so that it tilted backward. There was the sound of a mechanism, then the bookcase swung out towards them, revealing a tiny room.

A tiny room, just big enough for a bed and the bookcases that completely lined all the walls, and a few lights.

“The only thing better than a library is a library with a hidden smaller library full of rare books. Right? Sorry I couldn’t really afford the rare books. I did start with some of your books, though.”

Nursey had a hard time remembering how to breathe, much less how to talk. “My books.”

“Ayuh. Your mom had the staff send some from your house, but also….” Dex pointed at the bookcase by the head of the bed. “I bound some of your poems and stuff. Whatever Lardo and Holster and your mom could get for me.” He paused and ran a hand over his hair again. “And some that I’d saved from school.” 

“Oh. Chill.” Nursey’s eyes couldn’t stop moving around, trying to take in everything, the book nest bed, the cabin as a whole, Dex. “I love you so much.”

Dex seemed to melt as he completely relaxed for what Nursey guessed might have actually been the first time in his life. “Oh. Good. You hadn’t actually said that.”

Nursey’s gaze snapped back to Dex and he no longer felt the urge to look around at everything else. Dex had seriously been worried the whole time? He’d formed the bond, hadn’t he? He’d done his best koala impression, only holding back because he knew Dex was weird about what he revealed about himself to people. “William Jacob Poindexter, I am so in love with you. And it’s a damn good thing this place has a bed because I’m going to kiss you until you can’t see straight to make sure it gets through your thick skull that I’m not going anywhere, and it’s probably safest if that happens in a horizontal position.”

Dex swallowed. “Oh. Ok. I’m in love with you, too. For what it’s worth.” 

Nursey smiled and took his hand, pulling Dex after him as he climbed onto the bed. “I know. You sang for me. And built me a book nest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This is the set list that Dex had planned, if you're curious. ](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6TcLduPaWwuoqpypCRoDfJ?si=s9KaXJofSnqltGi7nK2nKA)

**Author's Note:**

> I can be yelled at on tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/)


End file.
